The Washington Times
Reporter held on trumped-up spy charges
By Clifford May
COMMENTARY:
One month later, Britain broke relations with Iran. But most other nations responded fecklessly, if at all. And in 1998, Britain restored relations with Iran after its rulers offered a meaningless promise: They would "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie" undertaken in response to the ayatollah's decree. Seven years later, the fatwa was reaffirmed by the Ayatollah Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message to Muslim pilgrims making the haj to Mecca. Since then, Iran's Revolutionary Guards also have declared the death sentence valid.
There has been no response of any consequence from Britain, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to these attacks not just on Mr. Rushdie but also on freedom of speech, a core Western value.
Nor have the world's literary communities stood up to Iran's rulers in any meaningful way. On the contrary, a remarkable number of Western writers have acted as apologists for the theocratic regime. New York Times columnist Roger Cohen is among the most recent – and egregious. Earlier this year, he reported that Iran's Jewish community is "living, working and worshipping in relative tranquility."
In fact, Iran's Jewish community has shrunk by more than 75 percent since the Islamic Revolution, from more than 100,000 to an estimated 25,000. And anyone who believes the Iranian Jews who remain are free to discuss their hardships and fears with foreign journalists like Mr. Cohen is a fool.
In January, Roxana Saberi, a 32-year-old American journalist – she has reported for National Public Radio, the BBC and other media – was arrested in Tehran on patently bogus charges of espionage. This was the same charge, by the way, that was made against journalist Daniel Pearl by the militant Islamists who kidnapped and, eventually, slaughtered him in Pakistan.
Last month, Ms. Saberi was hastily tried – one day, behind closed doors – and sentenced to eight years in prison. On April 21, she defiantly went on a hunger strike. She stayed on it for 15 days until this week when, according to her Iranian-born father, Reza Saberi, her health began to sharply deteriorate.
Even her fellow journalists have been slow to support her. I was recently on a BBC radio program. The topic under discussion: whether the Western media are unfair to Iran. Most of those on the program said they thought so. There were complaints, too, about "anti-Iranian prejudice" in America. I raised Ms. Saberi's case. The show's moderator was not interested.
On April 28, four members of Reporters Without Borders, a left-leaning press freedom advocacy organization, began a hunger strike in Paris in solidarity with Ms. Saberi. Kudos to them, but allow me to offer a modest suggestion: Reporters Without Borders should organize journalists, writers and artists around the world, indeed, everyone who cares about freedom – to fast for at least a day in support of Ms. Saberi.
One day without food to focus the world's attention on 30 years of Islamist oppression (at least five other writers and editors are currently imprisoned in Iran); cruelty toward Iran's minorities (including Baha'is, Kurds and homosexuals); its proxy death squads in Iraq; its expressions of genocidal intent toward Israel; and its illegal drive for nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.
Exerting such pressure could be particularly useful now since the regime has promised to review Ms. Saberi's sentence – again, in a hearing closed to the press and public. And perhaps a grass-roots protest might inspire European governments to belatedly demonstrate a little backbone – to recall their ambassadors, send Iran's diplomats packing, and impose serious sanctions until such time as Iran's rulers behave in a more civilized manner. Maybe the United Nations would demand they meet their obligations under the United Nations Charter and other international agreements.
I know: When pigs fly over Tehran.
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.
